Congratulations James Rhee, CEO of red helicopter
Inclusive Leader Award Winner for Entrepreneurship
James Rhee is a son of Korean immigrants, both of whom were professional caregivers. His father hung up a shingle and started a pediatrics practice on Long Island, and his mother, after a long stretch as a full-time mom, worked to get her reaccreditation as a nurse and provided care for veterans who had served in the Korean War. Both parents suffered as child refugees during the invasion of South Korea. From James’ perspective, his parents lived the lives of true entrepreneurs in the deepest meaning of the word. They did not innovate and disrupt from a place of greed; rather, they found creative ways in which to solve problems for a broader humanity, while also providing a better life for their own family.
In an attempt to build on his parents’ legacy, James has spent his personal and professional life immersed in seemingly disparate systems of knowledge and systems of people. He attended public schools his entire life, until attending and earning degrees with honors from both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of Harvard Law Review. James taught high school in between college and law school, and then embarked on a successful path in private equity and finance. He held senior roles managing billions of dollars of growth and distressed private equity capital at leading institutions in Boston, with a particular focus on human, brand, and capital intersectionality. Ultimately, he founded FirePine Group, a family-office impact investment platform that has stewarded the capital of some of the world’s most sophisticated investors.
In 2013, his journey assumed an additional and unexpected path when he raised his hand to resign from the Board of Directors in order to serve as the interim, first-time CEO of Ashley Stewart, a brand serving and employing predominantly moderate income Black women that was nearing liquidation. He ultimately served as Chairman and CEO for seven years, from 2013 to 2020. His strategy and operational philosophy drove staggering business and systemic results, providing tangible proof of the power of diverse ecosystems and a blueprint for the future of multi-stakeholder capitalism and organizations. The story has been featured by the world’s leading news and media platforms, including most recently by TED Conferences and Brene Brown.
Today, James continues to transform people, brands, and organizations at red helicopter, a media-education platform that is creating and uniting a forward-looking global ecosystem at the intersection of the values of kindness and math. His operational philosophy identifies and unleashes purpose through the systemic union of mathematical and creative systems, and it catalyzes organization to evolve in a manner better suited for the future design of life. red helicopter works with some of the world’s leading organizations and their leaders on defining and operationalizing change strategy, broadly defined, while also providing venture funding to systems-changing entrepreneurs.
He is also teaching this philosophy as the Johnson Chair of Entrepreneurship and a professor of entrepreneurship at Howard University. In addition, he is the executive in residence and a strategic adviser at the MIT Leadership Center and holds an appointment as senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Within the corporate ecosystem, James provides connectivity across and on behalf of people by serving as a member of the Advisory Council of JPMorgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways and the Governing Committee of the CEO Action for Racial Equity.
He is a Founding Member of Entrepreneur-to-Entrepreneur of Ashoka and a recent Frederick Douglass honoree of the New York Urban League. He is a former regional EY Entrepreneur of the Year honoree, as well as a former board member of the National Retail Federation, where he was awarded its annual Power Player designation for those individuals most impacting the future of retail.
But, above all else, he is proud to be a husband and a father of three children of his own. They live outside Boston, where he is working hard to finish his first two books.
Follow James and his incredible work through the below social media platforms. For more information sign up at redhelicopter.com or send an email to engage@redhelicopter.com.
· Instagram - @iamjamesrhee
· Instagram - @theredhelicopter
· Twitter - @iamjamesrhee · Linkedin
You can meet James Rhee at the Inclusive Leader Awards Wednesday June 22nd or at the opening plenary, "Opening the Diversity Leadership Superhighway in Companies and Corporate Cultures: Inclusive CEOs and Executives Share Their Insights"
Details and program below.
